Teen healed from total blindness in right eye

My name is Clayton Wells, and I’m 13. I haven’t been able to see out my right eye for four years. Since I was in the fourth grade, doctors have tried to understand my blindness, but none of them could say for sure how I lost my sight or what could be done to correct my vision.

That all changed one Sunday when Foursquare Missionary Sou Olbrich prayed for a miracle. I wasn’t in the service when Sou preached at our church, Life (Decatur Foursquare Church) in Decatur, Ill., because I was working with the children’s ministry.

My mom hurried out of the service and told me I should let the missionary pray for me. Honestly, I am always happy when someone wants to pray for me. But so many people had prayed about my eyesight that I had sort of lost my faith that anything would change.

A few weeks before Sou preached at our church, I confided in my mom that I was tired of not being able to see. It was a rough time in my walk with Jesus. I knew He could do it; I just didn’t know why it was taking so long.

Our church started working with a ministry called Healing on the Streets (HOTS). I think I was the only kid on the team, and I knew I was supposed to do it. We stopped people on the street and asked them if we could pray for them. As we prayed, we asked if our initial prayer made a difference. If not, we prayed again. We kept praying until something changed.

Some people walked away without the healing they hoped for, but some were truly healed. I prayed for a man with severe arthritis in his leg. He had trouble walking, and the first two rounds of prayer didn’t seem to have any effect. Finally, after the third time, he got up and started moving around without pain. He told me the prayer had worked. It was the first time anyone had been healed when I prayed for them. It was awesome.

Honestly, I never really thought about the fact that I was praying for God to heal other people when I was the one in need of a miracle. I hadn’t lost faith for the healing in others, but I guess I had lost faith that God would heal me.

A few weeks before Sou Olbrich preached at our church, I confided in my mom that I was tired of not being able to see. It was a rough time in my walk with Jesus. I knew He could do it; I just didn’t know why it was taking so long.

That Sunday when my mom asked Sou to pray for me, I thought, “Well, here we go again.” But this time, something was different. Sou asked me how my relationship was with God. She wanted to know if I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit and if I spoke with tongues.

I told her that I knew Jesus. I had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit, but I was open. She prayed for my spiritual sight and encouraged me to spend time every day getting closer to the Lord.

Then, she put her hands on my head. She blew lightly on my right eye. For the first time in four years, I began to see out of my right eye. It was like a dream.

Now that I can see again out of both eyes, I am praying for my dad. Like me, he hasn’t been able to see out of one eye (his left) for a long time. When I couldn’t see out of my right eye, we joked about how we needed each other to see with both eyes. Now, we’re getting serious about his miracle. I believe God will come through for Dad, just like He did for me.

This article was written with Rod Light, M.A., an ordained Foursquare minister, Life Pacific University instructor and freelance writer.